Moves towards Totalitarianism Flashcards
How many employees did the Cheka have by 1919?
100,000
Actions to show that Cheka had enormous power:
After 1918: could arrest, imprison, torture or execute anyone under suspicion
What event sparked Lenin’s decision to start the Terror?
His survival of an assassination by an SR, Faya Kaplan
how many people were killed by Cheka between 1918 - 1920
12,000
how did the Bolsheviks find these ‘class enemies’
called on workers to report anyone who made any remarks against Soviets or government
How did The Cheka help in the civil war?
- They kept army discipline by shooting any deserters
- As Red won back White controled area: Cheka sent into back into White areas to execute anyone suspected of supporting / helping the Whites
how was Terror used in the Red army
Cheka short deserters thy recaptured
over which time time period did the Red Terror last
September 1918 - February 1919
what major city did the Kronstadt navel base guard
Petrograd
which major events did the Kronstadt siler fight in that helped the Bolsheviks rise to power
- February Revolution
- July Days
- October Revolution
When was the Kronstadt mutiny?
28th February 1921
why was the Kronstadt mutiny a shock to the Bolsheviks
used to fight for the Bolsheviks
Why did the Kronstadt sailors mutiny?
- Sick of War Communism
- Sick of food requisition
- Unhappy about the Red Terror
- Wanted more political freedom - freedom of speech + press for left-wing socialist parties
How did Trotsky sort out the mutiny?
- sent 50,000 of the Red Army to fight the sailors
-
defeated the sailors on the 17th of March
The Cheka executed 500 sailors.
What was the main consequence of the Kronstadt Mutiny?
- The Bolsheviks no longer had security in their military control of Petrograd
- mutiny undermined their claim to be acting for the working classes and peasants
- increase in protests against Bolshevik dictatorship and calls for “soviets without Bolsheviks” ensued
what did the Bolsheviks call themselves from 1918
Communist Party
what did the Communist Party believe in
believe that the state should control the economy, society, and culture on Soviet Union from the centre (complete control)
What was the lowest tier of the Communist party hierarchy?
Membership
What was the highest tier of the Communist party hierarchy
Politburo - consisting of Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1919
what was the job of the Politburo
makes big decisions for the party
What were the two middle tiers of the Communist party hierarchy?
-
Party Congress - decides policies of the party
*elected to —–> - Central Committee - runs different areas of the party.
What were the three tiers of the Soviet government?
Local soviets —-> elected to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets *makes national laws) —> elected to Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom) - runs government departments
which members could stand in elections
ONLY Communist Party members
how did the Soviet Union become a centralised dictatorship
in reality Communist party determined actions of Soviet government:
*All-Russian Congress of Soviets**: simply agreed to whatever gov. told it to do
which parties was the USSR intially made up of:
- Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR)
- Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukraine SSR)
- Belorussian SSR
- Transcaucasian SSR
